Privacy policy

Who is responsible

Plotlingo is run by Alexander Nordin Davidsson, Linköping, Sweden, who is the data controller for the personal data described in this policy. You can reach us at hello@plotlingo.com.

What we store

• Without an account: your reading progress, settings and word list are kept only in your browser's local storage. Nothing that identifies you is sent to us unless you agree to analytics (see below).
• With an account: your email address and the same reading progress, settings and word list, so they can sync between your devices.
• If you subscribe: your subscription status and the Stripe customer ID that links your account to it, plus the campaign label of the link you arrived from, if any (such as “tiktok”), so we can count subscriptions by channel. Card details go directly to Stripe and never reach us.
• If you ask to hear about a new language: your email address and the language. We use it once, to tell you the language is open, and delete it on request.
• Usage totals: anonymous daily counts of a few steps (for example, how many people opened a first chapter that day). They contain nothing that identifies you and use no cookies.
• How the site is used (product analytics): which pages you visit, how far you scroll, what you click, which onboarding choices you make, which chapters you open and finish and which words you look up, plus errors that happen in your browser. If you agree in the cookie notice, this is linked to a random ID kept in your browser (and to your account if you log in), and we may record your session so we can watch where the site is confusing; anything you type in a form is hidden from these recordings. If you don't agree, or haven't chosen yet, we only count these events anonymously, without cookies or any stored ID. IP addresses are not stored.
• Which ads work (only if you accept): see “Measuring our ads” below.
• To keep the service safe: short-lived login codes (deleted after use or 15 minutes) and session tokens (stored only as hashes).
• To start your account from your setup: if you ask for a login code after setup, your setup answers (your level, daily minutes, the genres you like, your first story) are kept with the code, so your account starts from them even if you open the email on another device. They are deleted with the code.

Why, and on what legal basis

We process this data to provide the service you asked for — your account, syncing and subscription (performance of a contract, GDPR art. 6(1)(b)) — and to keep it secure and prevent abuse (legitimate interest, art. 6(1)(f)). Product analytics linked to your browser or account, and the Meta and TikTok pixels, run only with your consent (art. 6(1)(a)); anonymous counting without cookies is in our legitimate interest in knowing whether the site works (art. 6(1)(f)). A waiting-list email is kept because you asked us to write (consent, art. 6(1)(a)); you can withdraw that any time by emailing us. We keep billing records because the law requires it (art. 6(1)(c)).

Who processes it for us

• Cloudflare hosts the site and the database, and sends our emails: login codes, the confirmation when you subscribe, and the reminder before a free trial ends. Data is stored in the EU (Western Europe region).
• Stripe handles payments and billing as an independent controller for payment data.
• PostHog provides product analytics, hosted in the EU (Frankfurt).
• Proton (Switzerland) hosts our support inbox: if you email us, your message and address are stored there. Switzerland has an EU adequacy decision.

All of them have data processing agreements and use the EU Standard Contractual Clauses for any transfers outside the EU/EEA.

Measuring our ads (Meta and TikTok)

We advertise on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok. To see which ads bring people who actually read and subscribe, we use the Meta pixel and the TikTok pixel. They load only if you click Accept in the cookie notice; until then, and if you decline, nothing from Meta or TikTok runs on this site.

If you accept, the pixels tell Meta and TikTok which pages you visit here and when you open your first chapter, create an account, go to checkout or start a free trial, together with the cookies they set and the ad you clicked, if any. When you start a trial or make your first payment, our server tells them too (with the amount for a payment), including your email address in hashed form (a one-way fingerprint they can match against their own users), your IP address and browser. We store the pixel identifiers with your subscription at Stripe for that. Meta Platforms Ireland and TikTok Technology Limited (Ireland) use this to measure and improve our ads, under their own privacy policies, and may transfer it outside the EU. For collecting this data and sending it to them, we and Meta or TikTok are joint controllers (see their controller addenda); each platform is responsible for what it does with the data afterwards.

You can change your choice any time with Cookie settings (also at the bottom of every page). Declining stops the pixels and removes their cookies from this site.

Cookies

We use two cookies that keep logging in working: pl_session, which keeps you logged in, and pl_login, which lasts 15 minutes after you ask for a login email so its link can log you in on the same browser. They are strictly necessary, so they don't need consent. If you agree in the cookie notice, PostHog also stores a random ID in a first-party cookie and local storage so we can understand how the site is used over time. If you accept ad measurement, the Meta and TikTok pixels set their own cookies (such as _fbp and _ttp) to recognise your browser across sites. You can change your mind any time with Cookie settings at the bottom of any page, or by clearing this site's data in your browser; the notice will ask again.

How long we keep it

Account data is kept until you delete your account. Deleting it (in Settings) removes your account, reading history and word list straight away. When you start a free trial we store a one-way fingerprint of your email (a keyed hash that can't be turned back into the address), and keep it after deletion, so the trial can't be claimed twice (legitimate interest, art. 6(1)(f)). Billing records stay with Stripe for as long as accounting law requires (seven years in Sweden).

Your rights

You can access, correct, export or delete your data, object to or restrict its processing, and complain to a supervisory authority — in Sweden, Integritetsskyddsmyndigheten (IMY). Most of this you can do yourself in Settings; for anything else, email hello@plotlingo.com and we'll answer within a month.

Children

Plotlingo is for readers aged 16 and over. We don't knowingly collect data from younger children.

Changes

If this policy changes in a way that matters, we'll say so in the app before it takes effect.